Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-07

g midnight. "Who is she that cometh up
out of the wilderness like pillars Of
smoker"
Has persecution ceased? Ask that
young man who is trying to be a Chris
tan in store or factory where from
morning to night he is the butt of all the
mean witticisms of unbelievlng employees.
Ask that wife whose hus Jand makes her
fondness for the house of God and even
her kneeling prayer by tle bedside de-
rision, and is no more Ii for her holy
companionship than f!thy crow would
be tit companion for rooin or golden
orioie. Compromise with the world and
surrender to its conventionalitles and it
may let you alone, but all who will live
cody in Christ Jesus must suffer perse-
cution., Be theater-going, card-playing,
wine-drlnking, round-dancing Christian,
and you may escape criticism and social
pressure. But be an up and down, out
and out follower of Christ, and wording
name, and you will be pat in many dog
gerel and snub0ed by those not
worthy to blacken your Oldest shoes.
When the bridge at Ashtabula broke
and let down the most of the carload of
.
Bliss was seated on one side of the aisle
of the car writing down Christian song
which he was composing, and on the
other side group of men were playing
cards. Whose landing place in eternity
would you prefer-that of p. P. Bliss, the
gospel singer, or of the card players:
A great complaint comes from the
theaters about the ladies' high hats be-
cause they obstruct the view of The stage,
and lady reporter asked me the other
day what | thought about It, and l told
her that if the indecent pictures of ac-
tresses in the show windows of Brooklyn
and New York were accurate pictures of
what goes on in many of the theaters
night by night, then 1t would be well if
the ladies' hats were mile high so as to
completely ohstruct the vision. If pro-
fessed Christians go to such places dur
ing the week, no one will ever persecute
them for their religion, for they have
none, and they are the joke OF hell. But
let them live conSecrated and Christian
life and they will soon run against sheer
ing opposition. For compromise
Christian character gu easy time now, but
for consecrated behavior, grimace and
caricature. For the body, thanks to the
God of free America, there are now nc
swords or fiery stakes, but for the souls
OF thousands of the good, in Il tigurative
sense, rack and gibbet and Torquemada.
The symbol Of the domestic and social
and private and public suffering of q
great multitude of Gods dear children,
pillars of smoke.
What an exciting scene in India when
during the Sepoy rebellion regiment CT
Highlanders came up and found the dead
body of one of General Wheeler'e daugh-
tiers, who had been insulted and
mauled and slain by the Sepoys
So great was the wrath against these
murderers that the Scotch regiment
sat down and cutting off the hair OF
this dead daughter of General Wheeler
| they divided it among them, and each one
counted the number of the hairs given
him, and each took an oath, which was
executed, that for each hair of the mur.
dered daughter they would dash out the
life of a miserable Sepoy. But as We
| look over the story of those who in ali
ages have suffered for the truth, while We
| leave vengeance to the Lord, let US banC
/ together in one solemn VOW, one tire
mendous oath, after having counted the
/ host OF the martyrs, that for each one Of
those glorious men and women who dec
for the truth, an immortal soul shall live
live with God and live forever.
But as l already limited in the tirst sen
tenCe of this sermon, nothing can be more
beautiful than the figures of smoke on 8
clear sky. You can see what you will il
the contour of this volatile vspor, nov
enchanted castles, now troops of horse
men, now hammered procession, nov
winged couriers, now a black angel o.
wrath under q spear of the sunshine
turned to an angel of light, and now iron
horizon to horizon the air is picture
gallery filed with masterpieces of which
! God is the artist, morning clouds OF
| smoke born in the sunrise, and evening
clouds of smoke laid in the FURNISHED
sepulchers OF the sunset.
| The beauty Of the TRANSPORTED smoke
| is q divine symbol of the beauty of the
Church. The fairest of all the fair is she
| Do not call those prosecutors OF whom
| spoke, the church. They are the para
| sites of the church, not the church itself
! Her mission is to cover the earth with s
| supernatural gladness, to open all The
prison doors, 10 bslsam all the wounds, tc
! moss all the graves, to burn up the nigh
| in the fireplace of a great morning, Il
change iron handouts into diamonded
| wristlets, to turn the whole race around
and whereas it faced death, commanding
it, "Right about face for hesven!" Ac
cording to the number Of the spires
| of the churches in all our cities, town.
and neighborhoods, are the good homes
the worldly properties and the pure
morals and the happy souls.
Meet me at any depot the world ovel
and with my eyes closed take me by the
hand and lead me so that my feet will moi
stumble, and without my once looking
down or looking on the level, take me tc
some high roof or tower and let me see
the tops of the churches and / will tell
you the proportion of suicides, of arsons,
of murders, of thefts. According as the
churches are numerous are the crimes
! few. According as the churches are few
the crimes are numerous. The most
beautiful organization the world ever saw
or ever will see is the much maligned
Church, the friend of all good, the foe Of
all evil, 'fair as the moon and clear as
the SUM-" Beautiful in her author, beau
tiful IN her mission, the heroine of the
centuries, he bride of Christ, the queen
of the nations. There are hundreds OF
kindly institutions, some caring for in
ebriates, some for the crippled, some for
the imbecile, some for the misled, some for